Episode 007: Roots and Wellness: Choosing a Bilingual Family Life

Aug 18

In this episode, Diandra Morse shares her powerful story of how choosing a bilingual family life for herself and in her parenting was a decision towards health. She delves into the journey that led her to prioritize bilingualism, highlighting the deeply personal reasons for this choice. Diandra discusses the obstacles she faced along the way, the sacrifices made, and the resilience needed to maintain her cultural and linguistic heritage. The conversation sheds light on how language and culture are not only integral to our identity but also pivotal components of our overall health and well-being.

About Diandra Morse:

Diandra Morse, LCSW is a Dominican American, raised in both the Dominican Republic and New York City; Diandra currently resides in Upstate New York. She is raising two bilingual Spanish/English boys alongside her American non-native Spanish speaking husband. Diandra combines her love for heritage language speakers, supporting the mental health of parents and advocacy in her bilingualism forward Instagram account, Bilingual Playdate, where she focuses on advocating for bilingualism by dismantling myths about bilingual children, drawing attention to discriminatory and linguistically oppressive practices, connecting parents to the appropriate bilingual parenting community support and providing parents with play based Spanish learning ideas that they can incorporate in their home as a means to preserve their heritage language. Through her posts on Bilingual Playdate, Diandra promotes positive language attitudes towards all language variations and reminds parents that they are the heart of their child’s bilingualism and with the right support they can continue raising bilingual hearts.